Talaith had solid evidence that Varvara was behind our people's disappearances, though neither could tell me what precisely that evidence might be. Dr Bombay is something of a gossip, and once he started talking, it was hard to shut him up. He told me the names of the Arcane who disappeared. A dozen in all, men and women who specialize in different facets of magic.' Bogdan grimaced in distaste. 'He also told me more about their vices and sexual proclivities than I wanted to know. Beyond the fact that they all happen to be Arcane, there doesn't seem to be any connection between them.'
'Do you remember the names?' I asked.
Bogdan gave me an affronted look that seemed half put on, half genuine. 'I'm a professional. I know better to rely on memory.' He gestured and a leatherbound notebook appeared in his hand. He opened it and read off the names of the missing Arcane.
Papa Chatha was on the list, and while I wasn't familiar with every name, I knew most of them: the Bedazzler, Preston Digitator, Ms Mockery, the Uncanny Gaston, Alteria, Chang-Xi, and the Crystalline Dancer.
'They do have something in common,' I said after a moment's thought. 'They're all powerful and highly skilled in their particular specialty, but not necessarily well known to the public at large.'
Varney had only listened up to this point, but now he said, 'Why is that important?'
'Because their disappearances would go unnoticed, at least for a while,' I answered. 'If any of the town's famous Arcane vanished, it would be big news, and Talaith and the Adjudicators would immediately begin scouring the city for them. But if lower-profile magic-users vanished, the disappear ances would have to mount up and a pattern would have to emerge before someone noticed and decided to do something about it.'
Devona picked up on my train of thought. 'And that would give the kidnapper – or kidnappers – time.'
'Time to do what?' Bogdan asked.
'Maybe time to falsify evidence implicating Varvara in the disappearances,' I said. 'Time enough to start a war between two Darklords.'
'Varvara could still be behind the disappearances,' Bogdan said, but he sounded unsure.
I shook my head. 'Since when does Varvara do anything halfway? If she wanted to kidnap Arcane she'd select the most famous and powerful of them. If for no other reason than as a personal affront to Talaith.'
'You have a point,' Bogdan conceded.
'Did you learn anything else at Overhexed?' I asked.
'No. After a while, Dr Bombay started telling some truly awful jokes, and I made my excuses and got the hell out of there. I stopped in at Nosferatomes and asked Orlock if he'd heard anything related to the disappearances. He's Bloodborn, but he carries a lot of magic books in his store, and he's pretty plugged in to what goes on the Arcane community. But he wasn't able to tell me anything.'
Devona and I exchanged looks. We knew from firsthand experience that Orlock was more than he seemed, though we'd never shared this knowledge with anyone else. Orlock knew that Bogdan worked with us, and if he'd had any information about the disappearances, he'd have given it to the warlock to pass along to us – for a price to be named later, of course. I was more than a bit glad Orlock hadn't known anything, though. Devona and I had owed him a favor, and repaying him had nearly caused us to miss our only opportunity to conceive our child… make that our children. Because of this, I wasn't eager to get mixed up with the ancient vampire again.
'I decided to try Magewrights' Manor next,' Bogdan said. 'The club's quite exclusive, and I don't have a membership – though I've been on the waiting list for years,' he hastened to add. 'You know how much Talaith hates that some Arcane prefer the urban lifestyle of the Sprawl to the pastoral life in Glamere. Well, Magewrights' Manor is the most prominent symbol of that preference, and the magic-users that frequent the club have little love for Talaith. In order to belong, you have to be both powerful and well-connected socially, and having a certain amount of fame doesn't hurt either.'
A metaphorical light bulb went off over my Reptilikan-vomit-scarred head. 'Is that what attracted you to working for the Midnight Watch in the first place? Devona and I had just saved the city from being destroyed during the Renewal Ceremony, and if the Midnight Watch was successful, you hoped that some of our fame might rub off onto you.'
I could feel Devona's anger through our link, but Bogdan didn't seem upset in the slightest by my words.
'That was one of the considerations,' he admitted. 'But there have been other benefits to working here.' Bogdan pointedly avoided looking at Devona. He thought for a moment, then lowered his gaze to the floor and then gave what I thought was an almost embarrassed smile. 'To be honest, it's nice to use my talents for something productive. It's funny. My specialty is conjuring useful objects, but before I started working here, I myself wasn't very useful. I hired myself out to wealthy, prominent people when I needed money, but the rest of the time I frittered away my life, moving from club to club, trying to make connections and ingratiate myself with the 'right' people, whoever they happened to be at any given moment, all to increase my own status. It was a very empty way to live, and I didn't even know it until I came here.'
I hate it when Bogdan gets sincere. It means I have to work twice as hard to dislike him.
'So did you manage to get in?' I asked.
He looked up and nodded. 'On my way there, that strange reality distortion hit, where Nekropolis seemed to overlap with Earth for a short time. It was extremely disconcerting, more so for us Arcane I imagine, because we feel mystic energy in a way that most others do not. And that distortion felt deeply, profoundly wrong in a way I can't easily describe.' He shuddered at the memory. 'Anyway, when I arrived at the Manor and told the doorman why I'd come, I was immediately ushered in. The members had already been discussing the dispute between Talaith and Varvara when the reality distortion hit, and now they were furiously debating what and who had caused it and why. When they learned I was assisting you in investigating the disappearances of our people, they invited me to take part in their discussion.'
It was weird to think that my name had paved the way for Bogdan gaining admittance into a club he'd tried for so long to join. I know I've acquired a certain amount of fame over the years, but I don't take it seriously and try to ignore it. But I guess it can be a useful tool sometimes. If Bogdan resented the fact that it was my name that got him inside the Manor, he didn't show it.
'Some of the most well-known Arcane in the city were there: Dr Faustus, Circe, Baron Samedi, Baba Yaga, Chandu, Marie Leveau, Cagliostro, Rasputin, Calypso, the Blair Witch… A veritable who's who! I learned that they'd all performed their own investigations into the disappearances, and not one of them had been able to find so much as a trace of the missing Arcane. It was as if they'd vanished completely from Nekropolis.'
Shamika had been silent since we'd returned to the Midnight Watch, but she now drew in a surprised breath. 'I thought so!' she said.
We all looked at her. 'What do you mean?' I asked.
She looked extremely uncomfortable. 'Just that since I couldn't find any trace of my uncle, I didn't think anyone else would either. That's all.'
Her words didn't quite ring true, but as with Varney, I decided now wasn't the time to push it. Shamika didn't say anything more, and after a moment, Devona spoke.
'Tavi picked up Papa Chatha's scent trail and followed it, though. Surely magic-users as powerful as those in Magewrights' Manor wouldn't have failed to detect such a trace.'
'It does seem highly unlikely,' Bogdan said, 'but none of them said anything about scent trails while I was there.'
'Maybe the scent trail isn't important,' Devona said. 'It's possible Papa just happened to be visiting the Grotesquerie when he was abducted.'
'And then Titanus just happened to escape when Tavi followed Papa's trail there?' I said. 'And on top of that, when we arrived to save Tavi, all the creatures in the Grotesquerie just happened to escape as well?'
Devona smiled ruefully. 'When you put it like that, it sounds like a trap.'
'Talaith saw you in Demons' Roost,' Varney said. 'And she's not exactly your biggest fan. Maybe she set the trap to get rid of you and strike a blow at Varvara in the process.'
'Maybe,' I allowed. But that didn't feel right somehow. Talaith is more than devious enough to devise any number of traps, but somehow this just didn't seem like her style.
Bogdan spoke then. 'If Varvara didn't abduct the Arcane, then who did? Talaith herself?'
'I doubt it,' I said. 'Like Varvara, she'd have struck a stronger opening blow if she wanted to start a war – a blow more fitting a Darklord.'
'Maybe war wasn't the point,' Devona said. 'Maybe abducting the magic-users was, and war was just a
